1. Field of the Invention
One or more embodiments of the present invention relate to a method, medium, and system rendering 3-dimensional (3D) graphics, and more particularly, to a method, medium, and system rendering 3D graphic objects in consideration of the characteristic of a user interface. In addition, embodiments of the present invention further relate to a method, medium, and system minimizing the number of rendering objects, and more particularly, to a method, medium, and system minimizing the number of objects rendered in a rendering engine in consideration of the characteristic of a user interface.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a 3D graphic rendering engine for rendering 3D graphic data, the results of a visibility test of whether 3D graphic objects of 3D graphic data are actually displayed on a screen (that is, whether the objects are seen) is an important factor greatly influencing the performance of the 3D graphic rendering engine. Since the techniques for testing this visibility vary greatly, it is desirable to select a visibility test suitable for the characteristic of the system to which the corresponding rendering engine is applied. For example, in the case of 3D computer-aided design (CAD) for generating a drawing of a product, internal information of the inside of the product as well as external information of the outside of the product is important, and a visibility test technique that is suitable for such an application would be desired. However, unlike CAD, where the internal information is important, in the case of a 3D graphic game, in order to generate dynamic scenes according to the free movement of a viewpoint, 3D graphic scenes should be output in synchronization with the moving speed of the viewpoint. In order to do this, 3D graphic scenes should typically be rendered quickly according to the speed of the moving viewpoint. In addition, in order to interact with a user, it may be important to render graphics in real time, so an appropriate visibility test suitable for such characteristics of the 3D graphic game is desirable.
Thus, in the case of a user interface providing a 3D menu, a visibility test that is suitable for the user interface is desirable. In such a user interface, the state of the user interface is transited along a predetermined path according to an input signal of the user, and the scope of the states that can be transited is also restricted. Further, since a viewpoint is fixed to each state of the user interface, due to the characteristic of the user interface, objects actually displayed on the screen (that is, objects that are actually seen on the screen) do not change, and objects seen on the screen in each state can be predicted in advance. However, conventional visibility test techniques do not consider this characteristic of the user interface.